1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to microscope technology, and more specifically to technology of acquiring a microscopic image of a specimen and displaying an acquired microscopic image.
2. Description of the Related Art
When a specimen is observed using a microscope, a range that can be simultaneously observed (observation range) mainly depends on the magnification of an objective lens. When a high-magnification objective lens is used, the observation range is limited to only a part of the specimen.
In a pathological diagnosis of, for example, a cell, a tissue, etc., a request is made to grasp the entire image of a specimen to avoid missing a point to be diagnosed. Additionally, with the development of information processing technology, more images are expressed as electronic information in the pathological diagnosis, and there is also a request to obtain high resolution of old solver salt film for an image observed by a microscope through a video camera, etc.
To realize the above-mentioned requests, for example, Japanese Published Patent Application No. H9-281405, Japanese Published Patent Application No. H10-333056, or National Publication of International patent Application No. 2002-514319 discloses a system for reconstituting an image of a specimen by dividing an image of a specimen into small sections in advance, capturing a part of the specimen corresponding to the small section using a high-resolution objective lens, and combining the microscopic images for the obtained small sections. Using the system, which is called a virtual microscope system, a specimen can be observed by a microscope even in an environment where there is practically not a specimen, and using the image processing technology, the following observation can be performed as in actually observing a specimen.
First, during observation with low magnification, a wide-angle image can be provided by displaying a combined scale-down microscopic image while high resolution can be provided during observation with high magnification by displaying a partial image captured for each small section.
The display range of a microscopic image being displayed is moved corresponding to the X-Y direction operation (the moving operation in the horizontal direction on the plane perpendicular to the optical axis) by an observer.
In this system, a specimen can be diagnosed by without time restrictions, and different points of the same specimen can be observed although there are a plurality of users who perform a diagnosis in different places by sharing image data indicating a microscopic image among each user.
When an observation is made while performing an operation in the X-Y direction using the entity of a specimen, it is necessary to amend incorrect focus generated by the tilt of a specimen. However, in the above-mentioned system, an observation can be continued constantly in correct focus. Therefore, the observation efficiency can be enhanced, and missing an observation due to incorrect focus can be reduced, thereby improving the reliability in a diagnosis.
Additionally, for example, when a person who performs a diagnosis is trained, it has conventionally been necessary to give training for observations, practical work, etc., by preparing a plurality of the same specimens. However, in the above-mentioned system, the same image of a specimen can be used in training by utilizing the feature of sharing image data.
Furthermore, although it is very difficult to restore the same status of a specimen of an entity enclosed on a glass slide when it is color-faded or damaged, the image data can be backed up. Therefore, the above-mentioned system enables a specimen to be observed anywhere at any time in the same status.
As described above, the virtual microscope system is efficient and highly accurate in observing an entity of a specimen using a microscope, thereby ensuring high reliability.